Thursday, September 14, 2006

This is my running back, Mike Hart - a tough, between-the-tackles juggernaut. He's quite a guy. These are Notre Dame's linebackers, they're quick, but maybe a little small. By the way, my name is Lloyd. I have to worry about both of them, which ain't easy; 'cause when they met... it was murder!

• Last year, Mike Hart hurt his hamstring against Notre Dame and missed two games. He hurt his ankle against Iowa and missed two more.

• In fact, injuries have limited Hart to only 8 carries for 21 yards against ND over the past two years. ND has never faced a fully healthy Mike Hart for the entire game.

• Against Central Michigan, on his first carry of the game, Mike Hart fumbled. It was his first fumble in over 400 carries. It was recovered by Michigan. To date, he has only lost one fumble in his career, against Iowa as a freshman.

COACH Charlie Weis: A lot of times when you see a guy that's like 5'9", a shade under 200 pounds and people don't think he can run with power, that they're just elusive, the thing is he runs with power. So any time you have a running back that can run inside and out, usually the running back is good at running either inside or outside except for the just great ones, Tomlinson, but they can run inside or outside. This guy can run inside and outside. Any time a guy can do that, now you can't say, okay, great, Hart is in there, now he can run inside, we'll just press the edge and give away the inside run. You can't give away anything with the guy because he's got vision, he can cut, and he's got wheels, too. He can run. He's got speed.

• Here is a highlight reel of Mike Hart during his spectacular 2004 freshman season. Sorry about the music and the cheesy graphic effects.

• Mike Hart once said that "We don't ever lose three games a year. If we lost three, what would that make us look like?" The last season Michigan had fewer than three losses: 1999. Since then: 9-3, 8-4, 10-3, 10-3, 9-3, 7-5.